“Have we ruined Italy? Because you can't do without the union” is the title of the successful book by Marco Bentivogli released a year ago in the bookstores published by Castelvecchi and sold out in a very short time. From today a second revised and expanded edition will be available, enriched by an afterword by Pierre Carniti, historic general secretary of the FIM and of the CISL, a real essay on the union and on work, which concludes with an exhortation to Bentivogli and all the FIM to continue the path of renewal and innovation that they are pursuing, without ever being discouraged. The reprint goes to bookstores a few days after the conclusion of the 19th National Congress of the FIM which reconfirmed Bentivogli at the helm of the metalworkers of the Cisl.
The new edition returns, updating it on the theme of Industry 4.0, and on the debate around the culture of work which - according to the author - needs to be profoundly de-ideologised and freed from dogmas and flags (the recent discussions on vouchers and taxes on robots are only eloquent about it). The author then expands on the communication society polluted by post-truth and fake news, laying bare the instrumental illusion of an "income for all", whose supporters forget that our Republic is based on the foundation of "work for everyone". Work is – before anything else – dignity and self-fulfilment, recalling the words of Pope Francis on his visit to Ilva in Genoa. As for new technologies, it is wrong to foster a climate of fear because, if we know how to manage and direct the change they trigger, they will not destroy human work but rather transform it.
Bentivogli's book offers the perspective of a new union rooted in the original values of a rich history from which the organized forms of workers were born, recovering the meaning and strength of their being together. A trade union that is not afraid of criticism, indeed treasures it because it feels the need to renew itself in order to strengthen its relationship with people, with young people in particular. A book to read. A trade union "not to do without".
